The county's three further education colleges united for an inter-college skills event - attended, virtually, by more than 200 students and staff.

Kent Further Education (KFE), a partnership of MidKent College, North Kent College and the EKC Group, held its third annual event online due to the pandemic.

Compered by kmfm and KentOnline's Nicola Everett, KFE4Skills gave students the chance to pitch their skills in a wide range of industry competitions from automotive to welding, many of which serve as a springboard to the World Skills UK South East regional heats and national World Skills UK event, which normally takes place in November.

Principal of MidKent College and KFE chair, Simon Cook, said: “As a genuine partnership of colleges with 12 campus sites right across the county, we were all in agreement that we needed to provide an opportunity for our students to shine despite the year’s challenges. It was a real delight to see all the hard work put into the event’s content by the students and the support they’ve had from our incredible FE college staff to help make it happen.”

Students and staff produced over 70 short videos and presentations, which formed the basis of the event.

Lucy McLeod, principal of Canterbury College, provided a brief Q&A interview where she explained just what a challenge the last year has been.

She added: "The event really showed the talents of our students across all of our KFE partnership colleges, and it gave a great sense of pride to watch the videos in this condensed way. A real tribute to our students especially, many of whom have had a really challenging year during the on-going pandemic.

"Equally a credit to our fantastic staff for helping make it happen whilst also trying to complete assessments, exams and catch up with lost teaching time notably in the more hands on technical subject areas and those industries closed by covid restrictions. We look forward to getting back to our usual competition format in 2022, but the virtual event was a great way to celebrate talent at the end of the year.”

Mark Hill, KFE’s director, confirmed all students involved are to receive a special commemorative medal.

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